Final Four...........Near Done!

I have a few buddies involved in this coin-op hobby that feel exhausted by it.
Seems for many they are always working on machines and never enjoying them.
And while I would not say that is true of me, I'm not always working on them, I seldom enjoy them.
This is such an amazing community to belong to. The internet is full of information and amazing tools.
Sites like EMU MOVIES, forums like CGCC.CA, BYOAC, and KLOV are great sites.

Of my "final four" machines, the only four that made into the basement, Mario MAME was not yet complete.
The PC of this project was a daunting task as I mentioned prior. I had some issues with Dreamcast emulation. In the end I decided that older systems with a maximum of 6 buttons would be best suited for this cabinet. Consoles that features both analog and digital sticks are slightly more complex.
In fact one of my buddies was doing something similar to myself in the aspect that he included console emulation. However he was using the USB equivalent of the console joystick.
Which reminds me when I see him I'll be picking up two USB SNES joysticks.
I'll probably source of a GameCube and N64 version also.
Until such time I've prepared Mario MAME with NES, SNES, N64, SEGA MASTER SYSTEM, and even some DREAMCAST games.

This weekend I decided I would wrap this project up and do the final assembly. I had previously installed the marquee light fixture and speakers. I also mounted the monitor and cut the inner shroud (black out). Of course for me nothing can ever go to plan. The iPac I bought used off a CGCC member quite some time ago didn't work ! It was my fault for not testing it prior. I ended up spending $10 and sending it back to Andy @ Ultimarc to look it. In the event that it could not be fixed I ordered a new iPac VE.
I then moved onto my Rocketfish Smart Strip, I've used one of these prior in my DK JR. I love it, you have a "master" and four "slave" spots on the powerbar. When you turn off the master the slave items also turn off, likewise when you turn on the master the slave items turn on. This is awesome in an arcade ! For example for me (in both cabinets) the PC is the "master" and the marquee, monitor, and speakers are slave. PC power on....all systems GO! PC off...........everything off ! However in Mario it didn't work. I replaced the smart strip, but the same result. The manual says perhaps the item  draws too much current, however I tried to use the speakers and monitor as alternates but the result remained the same.

For Mario I had to end up housing a power bar inside the coin door, I'll need to open the door to power up the machine. It kinda sucks because I had mounted a button under the control panel that provides power to the PC. I had never done this before, its kinda bad ass if you ask me. Would have been sick if it had worked. I might in the future try a different brand of power bar with the same feature. For now I'm ok with the result.

The Unknown...........What Will I Be ?

Here is the Bad Dudes, Final Fight, WWF Superstars, combo of both, perhaps all 3 project to date.
Monitor installed on the weekend.
Board testing tonight, more this weekend.
Fate determined this weekend ?

Arghhh.................I'm so confused. LOL!

Lazy, Lazy, Lazy !

So my Popeye cabinet is all set up and working great, WWF Wrestlefest installed and gets some decent amount of play. Mario MAME (as I've nicknamed it) is still at the "mostly complete" stage,  the PC side of this project is taking long. I wanted to (want to) complete my ultimate project, full console emulation with a pair of Aim Trak guns. I've got a few emulators installed and configured, but more work is required. I really need to make the final push and get this tossed in, even as is. For what it's worth I'm not opposed to housing the PC inside with the emulators istalled as of now. I have NES, SNES, Sega Master System and Turbo GRAFX 16 installed and working well.





My buddy decided that he was out of the hobby and just going to keep two machines. His dedicated MK1 cabinet with Hyperspin, console emulation, and soon to have an Aim Trak gun attached. . His other keeper is a restored PacMan cocktail cabinet that is going to have Hyperspin V2.0 which has vertical support. He's going to let me copy his hard drive to a spare PC I have laying around, this PC I can always toss into Mario MAME if I so decide. OR............I could keep it for a future project.

NOW................... my two "for sale" projects.
I completed the 1st cabinet, a vertical 60-in-1 unit that I'm selling locally on Kijiji.
I think the machine looks good, all the parts are new, the color and molding really pop, however the interest has been minimal. I think it was this lack of interest that is keeping me from banging out the other cabinet.

I'm still on the fence. The blue 60 in 1 is %100 for sale. The yellow cabinet has taken on (in concept) many forms. It was to be "MAMEMANIA" a pure wrestling inspired MAME cabinet. It then was going to house my "Bad Dudes" board, from that it was going to be Bad Dudes and Final Fight (allowing me to sell the gutted Final Fight that I have). As of present day today I picked up two WWF Superstars boards, this has brought me back to the original idea of a wrestling cabinet.

I'm still torn! But things should be more clear when I do some tests. My Bad Dudes board was giving me an issue, which I press the ATTACK button it triggered ATTACK + JUMP, so the board could be damaged. I'm yet to test this to officially confirm. The WWF boards arrived not working and I'm waiting to get them to a friend to give them a look. If the Bad Dudes works I might go with a Bad Dudes cabinet, but also keep the WWF or Final Fight board installed simultaneously. Or I still might restore the Final Fight. It won't be done this year, however the yellow machine will be done this year.

Over the weekend I was able to install the monitor into the machine and I actually should test my boards today !